Brief family psychosocial screening is feasible in pediatric practice. Screening and provider training may lead to greater discussion of topics and contact of community family support resources by parents.
The goals of this cross-sectional study were to (a) describe the prevalence of 5 basic social needs in a cohort of parents attending an urban teaching hospital-based pediatric clinic, (b) assess parental attitudes toward seeking assistance from their child's provider, and (c) examine resident providers' attitudes and behaviors toward addressing these needs. Parents (n = 100) reported a median of 2 basic needs at the pediatric visit. The most common was employment (52%), followed by education (34%), child care (19%), food (16%), and housing (10%). Most parents (67%) had positive attitudes toward requesting assistance from their child's pediatrician. The majority of resident providers (91%) believed in the importance of addressing social needs; however, few reported routinely screening for these needs (range, 11% to 18%). There is great potential for assisting low-income parents within the medical home. Further practice-based interventions are needed to enhance providers' self-efficacy to screen and address low-income families' needs at pediatric visits.
ABSTRACT. Purpose. Pediatricians are encouraged by the American Academy of Pediatrics and Bright Futures guidelines to use well-child care as an opportunity to promote learning and development, encourage positive parenting practices, help children acquire behavioral self-control, and enhance the well-being of children and their families. Such counseling can consume considerable provider time. In an era of dwindling resources for health care, there is pressure to deliver services as efficiently and effectively as possible. Thus, the purpose of this article is to view methods for patient and parent education that are not only effective but also brief.Design. Review of 114 articles on issues relevant to patient education.Results and Conclusions. Parents appear to respond best to information that focuses on their specific area of concern. Media, such as advertising campaigns or office posters, can be helpful for broadening parents' range of interests. In response, verbal suggestions are effective for conveying brief, concrete information when parents are not stressed. Written information should be added for addressing more complex issues. Modeling and roleplaying appear especially useful when confronted with problematic parenting or child behavior. These approaches, if selected wisely and applied well, offer families needed assistance that has proven effectiveness in improving children's and families' health and well-being. Pediatrics 1998;101(6). URL: http://www.pediatrics. org/cgi/content/full/101/6/e10; patient education, anticipatory guidance, in-office counseling.
Two forces are reverberating within the US health care system. The first is the medical system's recognition that addressing a patient's social circumstances is necessary to promote health and prevent disease. Pediatrics has long espoused the strong influence of family and social conditions on children's wellbeing. The second force is movement away from fee-for-service reimbursement to a value-based model in which payment is based on quality measures and health outcomes. This valuebased system, which was first tested in private insurers and Medicare, has now been extended into Medicaid, which is the largest insurer of US children. By 2020, accountable care organizations (ACOs) will cover 100 million Americans. 1 These forces' convergence is influencing Medicaid-related health policies. Medicaid managed-care-organization programs in 30 states are encouraging screening for social needs and providing referrals for social services. Some statewide Medicaid ACO programs require social determinants of health (SDoH) interventions (eg, housing programs) and include health-related social-need screening as a quality measure. 2 The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) also recently announced the Integrated Care for Kids Model, a child-centered service delivery and state payment model that is aimed at reducing expenditures and improving quality of care for children through the prevention, early identification, and treatment of behavioral and physical health needs. The opportunity to engage the health care system with nonmedical sectors (eg, human services, education, and job training) to achieve the Triple Aim (higher quality care, lower per capita cost, and improved population health) and promote health equity is evident. However, key challenges remain.
CHALLENGE 1: AN INSUFFICIENT SOCIAL SAFETY NETSuccessfully addressing families' SDoH requires equitable access to adequate supports and community-based services. However, public benefits that address poverty-related risk factors, such as the
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